Panic or Social Phobia??

I am confused as to what my problem actually is. I have only had two a couple of full blown panic attacks in my life. One was while I was standing up in a wedding. The other was when I was standing in a long line at the grocery store. The "feeling" I get now is more off an off-balance felling that makes me become very uneasy and figity i.e. restaraunts, shopping malls, weddings, flying. I am more happy when I am by myself than with a group of people. I am taking xanax with some success, but I find myself drinking more then I should to ease the tension so I can be around people. I only drink when I go out as I know there will obviously be alot of people. My fear when I am around alot of people is that something physically is going to happen and I will look like an idiot. I always fear fainting when I get the off-balance feeling or having a seizure when I start to have the shakes a little. I have a wedding coming up in May and guess what?? I am the best man...yeee hawww!!

Sounds to me like you have OCD obsessive compulsive disorder, which can manfifest itself in forms of compulsive thought, which then result in anxious feelings. I'm no Doc, but I suffer from intrusive thoughts as well. I take anti-depressants to deal with it. You should consult a therapist and if that doesn't help try getting on some anti-depressants. Hope this helps, your not alone, Linda.

No matter how you want to label them, these are all symptoms of some form of anxiety disorder. There is no one right treatment. Everyone's chemistry is different. But, before trying medications, I would recommend eliminating stimulants/caffeine/drugs/alcohol and try deep-breathing/relaxation techniques. This eliminated 95% of my fears. I then made the mistake of trying paxil which had horrible side effects for me, although some people swear by it.
Good luck.

to vickers, it sounds like social anxiety to me,an excessive fear of embarrasing yourself in front of people who may know you or see you again is common with SA

xanax and alcahol are a risky combination but are helpful if you are very careful
for the wedding, more xanax but no booze would be best
get some books on overcoming SA and panic disorder
when feeling tense or panicky, relax, breathe deep and slow, accept the feelings and dont fight back against them
fear of fainting is very common but doesnt happen

Vickers I almost felt like I was reading my own writing there for a moment.

I experienced the same thing only a few times when a child. But yes one time was actually standing up in a grocery store for a long period of time no less and the other was standing up in church. At that time I noticed when I did not eat anything in the morning, it greatly affected this. Cause those two times were early in the morning while I didnt have any food in my stomach. My vision turned whitish, I got a ringing in my ears, my stomach hurt, I felt dizzy and like I was going to pass out, and I felt like I couldn't breathe properly. At that time I got a blood test taken with nothing wrong. In the grocery store I had to literally run to the nearest ledge to sit on and put my head in my arms to help let this thing pass, cause for sure I would have fainted and passed out on the ground cause it was that bad. Everyone around was just starring at me like I was crazy or something. In church I was just have to sit most of the time. The thing is that I dont feel that I was nervous at all in those situations at that young of an age. I feel that for me at least it stemmed from something else. It seemed that standing for long periods of time in one place would cause this to happen.